Here are some quick notes from UCLA’s first spring practice, which began on Tuesday morning at Spaulding Field.

* UCLA coach Jim Mora confirmed reports that wide receiver Devin Lucien has left the program. He was not listed on the spring roster that was passed out.

* With the search for Brett Hundley’s replacement underway, Jerry Neuheisel and Asiantii Woulard took the bulk of the reps. Freshman Josh Rosen had a more limited role. Mora said they would focus on two quarterbacks ...

When I was in the eighth grade, John Wooden came to speak at my grammar school in Burbank. It was late in the year. The church was packed for the assembly. He talked about coaching, and emphasized various Woodenisms. He was mostly there to read his new book calledInch and Miles.

Afterward, I asked the coach for an autograph. Before I could hand over my book, a parent next to Wooden tapped him on the shoulder ...

HOUSTON -- The NBA is calling, but the question now for Kevon Looney, with his freshman year officially over after UCLA's Sweet 16 loss to Gonzaga, is whether he'll answer.

The assumption is that his status as a likely lottery pick in the upcoming draft will inevitably lead him to become UCLA's third one-and-done player in three years, following in the footsteps of Zach LaVine and Shabazz Muhammad before him. But the door on his UCLA career isn't shut yet, and ...

HOUSTON -- They were never quite Cinderella, even as the rest of the college basketball world doubted them, even as they snuck into the Big Dance and waltzed their way to a second straight Sweet 16. But on Friday in Houston, the clock struck midnight on the UCLA Bruins’ darkhorse NCAA Tournament run anyway.

It was clear from the start of the Bruins’ 74-62 loss to Gonzaga that time had expired on that magical -- and fortuitous -- few weeks. There ...

After spending two years away, former UCLA coach Ben Howland is finally on his way back to college basketball.

The school announced Monday night it had hired former UCLA coach Ben Howland, who was fired in 2013 after a decade in Westwood. He’ll be introduced Tuesday during a news conference on campus in Starkville, Miss.

“I’m just so humble and grateful to be the new basketball coach at Mississippi State university,” Howland said in a statement released by the school. “… ...

After handling UAB for the second time this season in its Round of 32 victory, UCLA will meet Gonzaga in Houston for the Sweet 16, with its hopes set on avenging a December loss to the Bulldogs. If they can, the Bruins will move on to their first Elite Eight since 2008.

In the first matchup in back in December, UCLA fell by 13 at Pauley Pavilion. With Gonzaga's offense firing on all cylinders and ...